2004 Class A Champions Leo High School coached by Leo Man Noah Cannon - That's Frank Clair who went on to Star at Loyola University!
Did I mention that I wrote a book about Leo High School? Dan McGrath Leo '68 could write rings around me with Flu, Elephantitis and a bum tooth on a bad day.
Chicago Tribune Sports Editor Dan McGrath ( Leo High School 1968) is the king of the declarative sentence. Today, Dan McGrath features Leo High School Basketball Coach Noah Cannon, as part of an on-going series dedicated to African American heroes.
Noah Cannon was following his usual routine that September morning in 1994: chocolate milk and a doughnut from Linda's Grocery on his way to senior-year classes at Leo High School, where he was the starting point guard.
Some neighborhood thugs had other ideas. They jumped Cannon as he left the store, demanding money, and his last memory of the confrontation is a whiskey bottle smashing into his head above his left ear. It nearly killed him.
Cannon staggered east on 79th Street, bleeding severely. A fellow student dashed into school to alert Bob Foster, then principal of Leo, who had the kid call for an ambulance while he tended to Cannon.
"The turning point in my life," Cannon says. "Mr. Foster and Leo were there for me when I needed it, and I made up my mind then and there that I'm going to be here for Leo kids."Cannon returned to Leo to teach history and help coach basketball after graduating from Elmhurst College. In 2003-04, his first season as head varsity coach, Leo won the Class A state title. Despite an all-male enrollment of less than 300, it's poised to make a run in 3A this season with a 19-2 record and the Catholic League North title.
Leo High School has a rich and active history of Courageous and Committed men and woman who give back to Life.
Dan McGrath is the best prose craftsman in American journalism - elegant, understated, honest, clear and accurate. Facta Non Verba!
